


I'd wait for you

by Hellokaelyn



Series: Fictober 2019 [27]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fictober, episode tag 16x18, slight NCIS LA crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 04:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21207143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Repercussions happen months later. Nick and in extension Ellie are hit with it.Part 1





	I'd wait for you

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 will be up sometime! I wanted to separate it so that way I didnt stress about making it good enough.
> 
> Prompt: "Can you wait for me?"

Everything around them seemed to stop for a moment.  
  
His hands cupped her face, her own gripping his wrists tightly as if that would keep him there with her. Tears slid down her cheeks while his own eyes were wet with unshed tears.  
  
"It's not that far." Nick whispered, resting his forehead to hers as his thumbs wiped away the fresh tears.  
  
"Los Angeles is 2,668.7 miles away." Ellie sniffled, her grip on his wrists tightening. "It's not right, it's not fair." If it was any other situation he would have teased her for knowing that information, but instead it only made him love her more.  
  
"I know." Nick sighed, his voice strained and rough from holding back his emotions. "But the order comes from SecNav."  
  
"It's not fair." She repeated, a sob escaping. Nick let out his own sniffle as tears finally fell. "They can't just do this, you were drugged! You didn't do anything wrong!"  
  
Nick shushed her softly when her voice started getting louder and more hysterical. She was right, it wasn't right or fair. It was months later after his waking up on a boat post-drugged incident, and the higher ups were looking to punish someone for all the supposed trouble it caused. _More like they were trying to save their own asses like always_ he thought bitterly. But he had become the easy target to punish, and his punishment was to transfer to the LA special projects office for a year or turn in his badge. It would be at least six months before Ellie would be able to visit him.  
  
They had talked about it. What if he had refused? What if he had quit before they could fire him? But in the end Ellie refused to let him do it, she knew how much the job meant to him since she too felt the pull and love of the job. It had been a fight trying to convince SecNav, but in the end nothing worked. Not the whole team, not Gibbs, not even Vance.  
  
Nick swallowed, trying to push down more tears. He moved his hands from her face and pulled her in for a hug. Ellie's arms went around him, holding him to her as tight as she could. Nick tangled his hand in her hair holding her to him, his other arm around her shoulders.  
  
It had only been three months since they started dating, but even before they had never been apart for more than a week. They were together but they were also best friends, and that made it so much harder.  
  
"Can you wait for me?"  
  
A sob came from her again at his soft whisper, this time slightly muffled from where she was pressed against his sweater. "I'd wait forever."  
  


* * *

  
  
Nick was trying, really he was.  
  
He remembered his undercover days where he went all over, adjusted quickly to not only his identity but the people and environment around him. There was no adjusting this time.  
  
Working at the LA office was different in every aspect. Not only the constant undercover work and dangerous cases, but the environment. It wasn't that his temporary team wasn't friendly, but they had all been working together for years and Nick could tell had been burned before. They included him in conversations, invited him out for drinks, but they were also closed off in a way. He saw it even with other people who worked in the building, they were all friendly towards the others but there was a disconnect there which was also different from the DC office. He heard mumblings about a mole situation, so he couldn't blame them for being wary..but it also made adjusting harder.  
  
It was Deeks, the LAPD liaison, who had made him feel the most welcome out of all of them.  
  
Two weeks into his transfer, Deeks had caught him staring at a picture of himself and Ellie.  
  
"Girlfriend?" Deeks had asked, curious but not prying.  
  
Nick nodded. "Kind of new..but we've known each other for a while, she uh- we work on the same team back home."  
  
"Well I know how that goes." Deeks said with a snort, making Nick chuckle. "It's tough being apart..that I definitely know for a fact."  
  
Nick watched his eyes shift over to Kensi who was talking to someone a few feet away. Nick glanced at their matching wedding rings before looking away. That was also different. Coming onto this team and finding out two of them were married to each other, there was no rule 12 to be seen or anything like it.  
  
"Look man, I know you're not happy being here, especially when that means you're apart from your girl..but if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me." Deeks offered with a smile, clasping his hand on Nick's shoulder before walking away.  
  
He never took the other man up on his offer. It was obvious someone had heard the conversation though as he'd get sympathetic looks, everyone knew the reason for his transfer, that it was some form of punishment. And now they knew that.  
  
He and Ellie talked everyday. Text, phone calls, facetime..all of it throughout the days.  
  
It never got any easier. They'd stay up late facetiming, until Ellie's eyes started drooping and they knew it was time to hang up.  
  
Nick felt his heart sink and that loneliness creep in the second her face disappeared from his view.  
  
And then the anger set in. Anger at the situation, SecNav, the others behind this, even Vance and Gibbs even though they tried preventing it. He'd either get up and go to the gym Deeks recommended for if he didn't want to use the gym at work, or go for a run. He'd get back to the apartment and pass out for the two hour sleep he had left by that time.  
  
He also didn't miss the sadness in Ellie's eyes, the way that spark he loved seeing in them was dimmed. When she talked about the others or work, she said it all duly like she had no interest. That made his heart ache too, that she wasn't enjoying something she really did love. Sometimes there would even be dried tear tracks on her cheeks that she didn't do a good job of wiping away, that just made it all worse.  
  
They were both hurting, and he wasn't sure they could survive a year of this.  
  
Especially when those first six months went by and Ellie called him crying with the news she couldn't come visit.  
  
Nick decided he wasn't going to sit around and take this punishment he didn't deserve, they had caught who was responsible, saved the damn day, and he was getting punished for it all.  
  
He was _Nick Torres_. A man of action, and he'd be damned if he was kept from the woman he loved and _finally_ got.


End file.
